Silent Running (1972) Part 6

After creating many of the innovative special effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Douglas Trumbull tried his hand at directing, and 1972's Silent Running marked an impressive debut. (In addition to creating the visual effects for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and directing 1983's Brainstorm, Trumbull later turned to the creation of high-tech cinematic amusement park rides.) One of the best science fiction films of the 1970s, Silent Running stars Bruce Dern as Freeman Lowell, a nature-loving astrobotanist aboard the Valley Forge, a gigantic spaceship in a small fleet that carries the last surviving forests of the Earth, which has fallen victim to overpopulation and ecological neglect.

Freeman's name reflects his nonconformist philosophy, which runs counter to the prevailing recklessness of his three ill-fated crewmates, who are eager to jettison their precious payload and return to the bleakness of Earth. Before they can sabotage the forests, Freeman does what he must, and spends the remainder of his mission with three robotic "drones" as his only companions, struggling to maintain his sanity in the vastness of space. Dern is superb in this memorable role, representing the lost soul of humankind as well as the back-to-nature youth movement of the 1960s and the pre-Watergate era. (Appropriately, Joan Baez sings the film's theme song.) A rare science fiction film that combines bold adventure with passionate social conscience, Silent Running will remain relevant as long as the Earth is threatened by the ravages of human carelessness.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Silent
• Running
• Bruce
• Dern

[MasterOhSo]

It isn't matter of wether we'll destroy the planet...because we won't...now we might wipe ourselves from the face of it, but the Earth will get by just fine without us. I weep for our shortsighted species and hope that we can pull it out before it's too late.

[SilentRunningMovie]

Yes, the earth was doing just fine before the appearance of man and will do just fine after the passing of man....

[Crossroadsinc]

That right, thats what I expect frm you "Rape the Earth! it dsn't matter! god will come and fix everything!"

You know, you have been saying "not much longer" for a long, LONG time... I don't know about you, but I'd rather try and fix the world MYSelf then waiting for some god to do it.

Afterall wouldn't your god, oh lets see, WANT you to keep HIS creation clean and sacred?

I mean tell me your thoughts here "Lets screw the world it doesn't matter" Very very god of you, jesus would be proud.

[UTubeIsTrackingYou]

@MasterOhSo If there is enough life left, and in favourable-enough conditions, the planet may regenerate into something similar to what it was before we came along. My bet, however, is on desertification of the land base and lifeless toxic soup for the oceans.

[JohnMan59]

@Kapitananime And that's a bad thing in your mind, right?

[yeayeawudeva01]

@HAMBURGER99100 lol



[Kapitananime]

This film has been forgotten as the protest film it really was. I helped kill our Space Program and crated a generation of anti-Technology Tree huggers running Hollywood for the next 50 years.

[Domzdream]

@HAMBURGER99100

Nah, it's a good compost contributor. The plants love to feed off dead whatevers. Lots of salts and minerals. Sugar, water. All perfect for a plant to enjoy.

[ghostmanlostsoul]

@racookster No, I wrote SILENT RUNNING and the part of Freeman Lowell was written for Bruce Dern. Ask Bruce Dern or Doug Trumbull if you don't believe me.

[BUDDY6414724297]

@racookster No, the part of Freeman Lowell was written for Bruce Dern. I would know. I worked on the film.

[racookster]

@BUDDY6414724297 Believe it or not, Bruce Dern wasn't the first choice to play Freeman Lowell. Larry Hagman was. Lowell wasn't yet an environmentalist in that version of the script, either -- just a reclusive guy who did not want to go back to Earth, and depended on the domed forests for his food.

[HAMBURGER99100]

He buries the guys body? He is in space, just dispose of him out of an airlock.

[Fhilbo]

@Crossroadsinc The Earth is a sacred temple, and we treat it like a toilet